Barring
a hike in the Technology Upgradation Fund, the Budget 2008-09 has by and large
ignored the textile industry. At a time, when the textile industry's exports
have suffered with a fall of 22% in one year, FM has disappointed with his
omissions on issues such as rationalisation of import duties on fibres. The
industry was hoping for some relief in the form of reduction in excise and
custom duties on plant and machinery, refund of State-level duties and reduction
in interest rates.

Every year, the sanctioned amount under it has been doubling and in 2005-06, it
touched Rs 16,000 crore. Last year's figure was Rs 36,000 crore, which reflected
the textile industry's increasing optimism on the importance of modernisation in
the context of globalisation. Total production of cloth has increased from
42,034 million sq metres during 2001-02 to 48,314 million sq metres during
2005-06 registering an annual growth of 3.57 % during the last five years. The
relative share of production of cloth from mill, handloom, powerloom (including
khadi, wool, silk) and knitting sector is about 3 %, 13 %, 63 % and 21 %
respectively during 2005-06. The growth rate of clothing industry has almost
doubled over the last 8 years and the knitted segment has grown faster than
woven garments. The estimated production of this industry is about 8,000 million
pieces with market value of US$ 28 billion. (RMG export during 2005-06 was US$
8.2 bn, which recorded a 32% growth; with RMG exports to US & EU countries
showing high growth rate). But, do we realise that today India's biggest spinner
has a capacity of 5 lakh spindles while in China, the leading spinning company
has a capacity of 30 lakh spindles. The biggest weaver in India has a capacity
of 152.5 million metres while the figure for China is 850 million metres. Let
the textile industry reminds itself of the words of a great doyen of industry:
"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper.
And our efforts greater."

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Arvind's fire protection solutionsSince 1931, Arvind Ltd stands tall as the flagship enterprise of the $14 billion Lalbhai group. Arvind has marked its presence throughout the apparel value chain - from fibre to retail. The company has recently made a strong foray